This blog is a continuation ofRenegade Grace - the newsletterthat goes out monthly to those who have signed up. Past Newsletters are in the Archives. Be sure to start getting these updates by adding yourself to the list today!SEED SUBJECT OF THIS MONTH:

FORGIVENESSthe gold ring

Friday, April 30, 2010

When I first heard this concept from Gabriel Cousens ('underfeeding' is Gabriel's word), I immediately had a Knowing of the Truth of this. It's as though I always knew it. I am always surprised when people begin by seeing this as a form of starvation. Nothing of the sort. As Deepak Chopra points out: "Under-nutrition is not the same as Malnutrition." Why? Because not only will you be eating less, you will become aware of all the essentials and eliminating the garbage.

Deepak Chopra, in his #1 New York Times Best-Seller Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, has to say about "eating frugally": "Of all of the factors listed as prescriptions for longevity, frugal eating is the one that has caught the imagination of almost every person who consciously tried to live a long life." For centuries the literature of longevity has been filled with testimony about the virtue of strict dietary abstinence. A fifteenth century Venetian nobleman named Luigi Cornaro is famed in gerontology because he resolved, after a roaringly dissolute youth, that he would mend his ways, pursue a healthy course of life, and try to survive to at least 100. He succeeded spectacularly. In an age where the average person was fortunate to live to 35, Cornaro lived to 103 and remained active and clear-headed to the end. His method for achieving this feat was to abstain from drinking and to eat very sparingly: In essence, he fasted from age 37 onward, following ancient Greek and Roman notions of frugal diet as the secret of longevity.

Dr Roy Walford, a noted gerontologist at ULA and an outspoken advocate of under-nutrition, is one of the few scientists actually to take up the method himself.

[In experimentation with mice] Earlier research had shown that eating a restricted diet only every other day was highly effective in increasing life span. In addition, the mice were tapered into their new diet gradually, allowing their bodies to shift their metabolic set point to accommodate dietary restrictions without abrupt changes.

Your metabolic set point is a brain mechanism that regulates how fast your body burns fuel. It also indicates when you feel hungry or satisfied. If you try to impose a diet on yourself that disagrees with your metabolic set point, the brain will create cravings for food until more is supplied. By changing the metabolic set point gradually Walford coaxed it into line with the meager calories called for in under-nutrition. He advises the same tapering process for people who adopt his method, taking several months or years to adjust to a 40 percent reduction in caloric intake.

"The idea is to loose weight gradually over the next four to six years," he says, "until you're 10 to 25 percent below your set point. (Unknowingly and unwittingly, this is the story of what happened to me!) That's the weight you'll drift toward." The gradual restriction of calories has to include careful food selection to make sure that all vitamins and minerals are included -- UNDER-NUTRITION IS NOT THE SAME AS MALNUTRITION.

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Friday, April 23, 2010

“What we wish and expect for ourselvesgoverns the response we get.”–Deepak Chopra Ageless Body, Timeless Mind– the New York Times #1 best-seller

“The new paradigm tells us that we are constantly making and unmaking our bodies at the quantum level, which means that we are constantly unfolding hidden potential. Some of this potential is negative, some positive.

The ﬁeld [Deepak Chopra speaks of the quantum “ﬁeld of inﬁnite possibilities”] takes a neutral attitude; “...what we wish and expect for ourselves governs the response we get.”

If we consider how to improve physical and mental function every day for the rest of our lives, three values emerge that must be part of everyone's intention:

longevity itself, since life is a primary good

creative experience, which keeps life interesting and makes us want more of it

wisdom, which is the collective reward of long life.

It's impossible to set limits on what can be achieved in each area. Creativity and wisdom inspired Picasso, Shaw, Michelangelo, Tolstoy, and other long-lived geniuses to the day they died. Verdi wrote one of his greatest operas, Falstaff, at the age of 80, and the German Alexander von Humboldt completed his greatest work, Cosmos, at 89. There is immense beauty and dignity in these autumnal achievements; the dome of St. Peter's seems even more masterful for the fact that Michelangelo designed it in his ninth decade.

Psychologists who study creativity say that artists and writers often can produce more new ideas in their sixties or seventies than in their twenties. One interesting variable is that the later you take up any creative pursuit, the more likely you are to pursue it into old age. Eliot Porter, on of America's premier landscape photographers, did not publish his ﬁrst picture until he was past 50; Julia Child came to television when she was past midlife. In both cases, success steadily increased through the next three decades.

Creative experience may enhance the structure of the brain itself. Chinese studies of old people in Shanghai indicate that less educated people have higher rates of dementia and Alzheimer's disease; the implication is that educated people, having been trained to use their minds, stimulate healthy brain activity. PET scans show increased blood ﬂow to the brain during periods of creative thought; a distinctive EEG of coherent rhythms across all bands of brainwave activity is associated with the “Aha!” or “Eureka!” experience that characterizes art and creativity in general. Also, it's a myth to think that it harms the brain to get too wrapped up in mental work. As long as it is enjoyable, concentrated mental activity gives rise to alpha-wave patterns typical of “restful alertness,” the relaxed but aware state also found in meditation.

Certain desirable neurotransmitters such as serotonin also increase during pleasurable creative activities (again, the same change is associated with the restful alertness found in meditation). The neurological picture is still debatable, but the real-life results–more years of fulﬁlling existence–are not. It would appear, then, that to want as much life, creativity, and wisdom as possible is very desirable. If your expectations in these areas are low, you are not likely to exceed them, while setting very high standards makes every decade worth looking forward to. I am fond of Robert Browning's line, drilled into my head as a child in India:

Thursday, April 15, 2010

“To challenge aging at its core, the entire worldview must bechallenged ﬁrst, for nothing holds more power over the bodythan beliefs of the mind.” -Deepak ChopraFollowing materials from Ageless Body, Timeless MindNew York Times #1 Best-seller by Deepak Chopra

The most signiﬁcant breakthrough (re: AGING) is not contained in isolated ﬁndings but in a completely new worldview. The ten assumptions of the old paradigm (Renegade Grace: the newsletter) do not accurately describe our reality. They are inventions of the human mind that we have turned into rules. To challenge aging at its core, the entire worldview must be challenged ﬁrst, for nothing holds more power over the body than beliefs of the mind.

Each assumption of the old paradigm can be replaced with a more complete and expanded version of the truth. These new assumptions are also just ideas created by the human mind, but they allow us much more freedom and power. They give us the ability to rewrite the program of aging that now directs our cells.

THE TEN NEW ASSUMPTIONS ARE:

(and please note: assumption for assumption is a response to the ten "old" assumptions in the April 15 NEWSLETTER - fun and illuminating to compare)

The physical world, including our bodies, is a response of the observer (it is important to the understanding of these assumptions that in the world of Quantum Physics, WE ARE THE OBSERVER. We are observing our own lives. As we observe, what we BELIEVE about what we observe becomes our reality! There is NO "OBJECTIVE" REALITY OUTSIDE THE OBSERVER) We create our bodies as we create the experience of our world.

In their essential state, our bodies are composed of energy and and information, not solid matter. (this was a WOW! for me) This energy and information is an outcropping of inﬁnite ﬁelds of energy and information spanning the universe.

The mind and body are inseparably one. The unity that is “me” separates into two streams of experience. I experience the subjective stream as thoughts, feelings, and desires. I experience the objective stream as my body. At a deeper level, however, the two streams meet at a single creative source. It is from this source that we are meant to live.

The biochemistry of the body is a product of awareness. Beliefs, thoughts, and emotions create the chemical reactions that uphold life in every cell. An aging cell is the end product of awareness that has forgotten how to remain new. (Another WOW!)

Perception appears to be automatic, but in fact it is a learned phenomenon. The world you live in, including the experience of your body, is completely dictated by how you learned to perceive it. If you change your perception, you change the experience of your body and your world.

Impulses of intelligence create your body in new forms every second. What you are is the sum total of these impulses and by changing their patterns, you will change.

Although each person seems separate and independent, all of us are connected to patterns of intelligence that govern the whole cosmos. Our bodies are part of a universal body, or minds an aspect of a universal mind.

Time does not exist as an absolute, but only eternity. Time is quantiﬁed eternity, timelessness chopped up into bits and pieces (seconds, hours, days, years) by us. What we call linear time is a reﬂection of how we perceive change. If we could perceive the changeless, time would cease to exist as we know it. We can learn to start metabolizing non-change, eternity, the absolute. By doing that, we will be ready to create the physiology of immortality.

Each of us inhabits a reality lying beyond all change. Deep inside us, unknown to the ﬁve senses, is an innermost core of being, a ﬁeld of non-change that creates personality, ego, and body. This being is our essential state–it is who we really are.

We are not victims of aging, sickness, and death. These are part of the scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer (the "observer", which is you) is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.

These are vast assumptions, the makings of a new reality, yet all are grounded in the discoveries of quantum physics made almost a hundred years ago. The seeds of this new paradigm were planed by Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Plank, and the other pioneers of quantum physics, who realized that the accepted way of viewing the physical world was false. Although things “out there” appear to be real, there is no proof of reality apart from the observer (you are the observer). No two people share exactly the same universe. Every worldview creates its own world.

I want to convince you that you are much more than your limited, body, ego, and personality. The rules of cause and effect as you accept them have squeezed you into the volume of a body and the span of a lifetime. In reality, the ﬁeld of human life is open and unbounded. At its deepest level, your body is ageless, your mind timeless. Once you identify with that reality, which is consistent with the quantum worldview, aging will fundamentally change.

“A new scientiﬁc truth is not usually presented in a way to convince its opponents. Rather, they die off, and a rising generation is familiarized with the truth from the start.”-Max Planck

Max Planck was a German physicist. He is considered to be the founder of the quantum theory, and thus one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century. Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. (God Bless Max Planck and QuantumPhysics. Amen!)

Upcoming weekly installations:

BLOG #2 • April 23 • NOT OLDER, BETTER “What we wish and expect for ourselves governs the response we get.”

Monday, April 5, 2010

Water is the only element that can be a liquid, a solid, and a gas. Itʼs utterly singular and magical in itʼs diversity of forms and functions and importance and necessity to every part of our lives here on the planet. I am in love with WATER.There is no question my favorite element is WATER. I am also a water sign. We need all of the ﬁve elements, but water is my ʻterritoryʼ, my ʻstationʼ, my ʻpassionʼ. It is my most important food, healer, comfort. It cleans us inside out, it nourishes us as our primary food and life force and source of daily energy (I promise you)! It provides us with bounty even without soil (hydroponically grown foods), foods from the ocean, not only ﬁsh, but sea vegetables. Water even provides us with entertainment, relaxationand rejuvenation, including bathing in lakes, pools, oceans, steams, saunas, hot tubs, etc. My area with water has to do with cleansing of the colon. Throughout history, many wise people have experienced that when they ensure that the colon is cleansed and healed, the well being of the whole body is greatly enhanced.Cleansing the Colon with Colon Hydrotherapy (Colonics) has been found to be the most effective process to accomplish this pivotal healing work quickly and easily.Norman Walker, my hugest hero and role model, has this to say regarding Colon Hydrotherapy:"No system of healing can ever be permanently effective until the eliminative organs have been thoroughly cleansed of accumulated waste matter."

More and more of us living in the US are choosing to recognize our self-responsibility for health and well being. This has led to a renewal of interest in natural, holistic methods of living and healing the body. One of these methods, as old as manʼs civilization, is cleansing the colon. Originally, it was accomplished by squatting in a stream bed and drawing water up into the colon, then expelling it. This can be attributed especially to Yogis who had control over their musculature.

Historians tell us that the practice of Colon Hydrotherapy or, in its most basic form, the enemas was ﬁrst used by the Egyptians. In Ancient Egypt a ramʼs horn or gourd was hollowed out and utilized as the ﬁrst primitive colon hydrotherapy machine.

The Ebers Papyrus, of the 14th century B.C., and the Edwin Smith Papyrus (c. 1700 B.C.), both mention enemas and give directions for the use of the enema. Enema pots and plants shaped in the form of plastic tubing (reeds) were constructed. The Essene Gospel of the third century stated, "The uncleanness within is greater than the uncleanness without. And he who cleanses himself without, but within remains unclean, is like a tomb that outward is painted fair, but is within full of all manner of horrible uncleannesses and abominations." (I am an Essene in and I love this. It goesback far before Christ! Is it not an utterly mind blowing quotation!).For every possible question regarding Colon Hydrotherapy, check out the corresponding section on my new website.Colon Hydrotherapy by Petaluma Healing Arts

ESSENE THURSDAY COMMUNIONSMorning Communion with the ANGEL OF WATER

All the waters the Creator hath made are Holy. May I be blessed that the Angel of Water enter my blood And I feel the rushing current of the river. And like rivulets of a stream, send the power of God to all parts of my body. And it shall be for healing For the power of the Angel of Water is very great.